Press Releases

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales is to benefit from a rescue package of £2,551,371 by the Clore Duffield Foundation, chaired by Dame Vivien Duffield. The Foundation is supporting 66 cultural organisations across the UK, including Amgueddfa Cymru, to continue and develop their learning and community work during the pandemic.  

Both the Clore Learning Centre at National Museum Cardiff and the Clore Activity Space at Gweithdy in St Fagans National Museum of History were supported by Dame Vivien Duffield’s Foundation, which made Amgueddfa Cymru eligible for this award of £55,000. 

Amgueddfa Cymru is the largest provider of learning outside the classroom in Wales. Despite having to close a number of Wales’ national museums over the last 7 months, Amgueddfa Cymru’s learning offer has continued with schools and adult learners from across Wales making use of its virtual educational resources. 

The organisation has developed its most popular workshops into virtual experiences and this new funding will enable the Museum to broaden the offer and reach an even greater number of school pupils, adult learners and community groups across Wales. 

During the pandemic, Amgueddfa Cymru has also reached out to communities through initiatives such as Objects of Comfort. The organisation has been sharing objects from the national collections on its social media channels, that have comforted people in the past in times of stress and hardship. From a hot water bottle and a blanket to a teddy bear and a grandfather clock, the hope was that they would help to bring solace or improve the mood and wellbeing of others during COVID-19.   

The aim now is to work with care homes and other group settings across the country, sharing digital resources on these objects and many others.   

David Anderson, Director General, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales said: 

“Closing our museums, which are normally full of schools, families and community 

groups as well as other visitors, has been a difficult and sometimes emotional 

“Yet, we want to continue to inspire audiences, existing and new, through our work, providing reassurance to those who need it, and stimulating those who are searching for something new.  

“I would like to personally thank Dame Vivien Duffield for such generous funding which will enable us to continue to work with our partners to support and serve communities across Wales during this challenging time, focusing in particular on people facing the greatest disadvantage.” 

The recipients of the rescue package across the UK are museums and galleries, theatres, music, dance, art centres and heritage organisations in all four UK nations including Birmingham Royal Ballet, Bristol Old Vic, the Foundling Museum, the Garden Museum, Hillsborough Castle, Kettle’s Yard, the Leach Pottery, Manchester Art Gallery, National Gallery of Scotland, National Museum Wales, the Roundhouse, the Royal Academy of Arts, the RIBA, the RSC, Sage Gateshead, Tate, Turner Contemporary, Unicorn Theatre, and the V&A.  

Dame Vivien Duffield said:  

“Over the years I have realised that museums, galleries and other places of cultural interest need to engage both with children and with adults through their learning programmes. We have therefore funded more than 60 Clore Learning Spaces in places large and small throughout the country. We fund their creation and not their running costs. However, during lockdown they were all closed, and with the gradual reopening of their host institutions we realised that very few of the learning spaces had been able to reopen. This donation is to help the institutions where possible start their learning programmes in person when the time is right, while taking the necessary precautions – it is of course also to help and support the work of the learning teams which lead their provision.”  

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